The final day of Star Wars Celebration 2025 in Japan was dedicated to anime, with a panel spotlighting the successful Star Wars: Visions anthology series. Visions on Disney+ has expanded the scope of storytelling in the Star Wars franchise by collaborating with esteemed and emerging animation studios from across the globe. The first volume of the series introduced Star Wars fans to bold new ideas from several anime studios, while the second volume took it a step further by introducing stop-motion and other international studios. Now, volume three will be all about Star Wars anime again, with some familiar characters set to make their return.
Lucasfilm is Going All in on ‘The Ninth Jedi’
While the Disney+ original series remains an anthology, Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 will feature some continuations of popular past episodes. Most notably, Lucasfilm announced a new label called Star Wars: Visions Presents, an opportunity to give more room to the animation studios and a bigger scope to tell their stories. The first of these will be The Ninth Jedi, which is getting an entire limited series on the Disney+ streaming service in 2026. That’s right, for the first time ever, Lucasfilm is releasing a proper, full-length Star Wars anime series.
Kenji Kamiyama, who directed the original The Ninth Jedi short and also made the recent The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim movie, will return to oversee the production of the new limited anime series. However, fans can delve deeper into the world of The Ninth Jedi much sooner, as Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 will include a sequel episode that bridges into the upcoming show. Director Naoyoshi Shiotani (Psycho-Pass) is in charge of the next chapter in the story of The Ninth Jedi, titled “Child of Hope,” which will follow Lah Kara (voiced by Chinatsu Akasaki) as she embarks on a journey to save her father, a legendary lightsaber smith.
New and Returning Storylines for Star Wars: Visions Volume 3
Another returning storyline is Kinema Citrus‘ The Village Bride, with Hitoshi Haga making “The Village Bride: The Lost Ones,” a tragic follow-up short about the people who lost their families and children during the Order 66 mass slaughter of the Jedi Order. Lastly, Takanobu Mizuno is returning to direct “The Duel: Payback” for studio Kamikaze Douga (who are developing the Ghost of Tsushima anime for Crunchyroll). The Duel continuation features an AT-AT walker transformed into a Japanese ryokan, a mantis-like alien species, a central fight against a Jedi Grand Master, and, as seen in the sizzle reel shown to Star Wars Celebration attendees, a Sith with a bracelet that transforms into a lightsaber.
As for the new shorts, we have another Kinema Citrus production, Yuko’s Treasure, which centers on a large blue, bear-looking caretaker droid named Billie who looks after a little orphan named Yuko. Audiences at Star Wars Celebration Japan got to see a sneak peek, and it looks like an adorable story, with Billie coming off as a riff on Baymax from Disney’s Big Hero 6. He is cute, like if Hayao Miyazaki’s Totoro were a droid, has a microwave in his stomach, and is very concerned when Yuko goes out on the streets riding a dangerously fast speeder. The short is set in Mos Eisley on Tatooine.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 will have Smugglers, Bounty Hunters, and Mechs Galore
Polygon Pictures is producing The Bird of Paradise, which draws inspiration from Japanese spirituality and boasts a painterly visual style. We also have The Smuggler, from Studio Trigger. Director Masahiko Otsuka introduced the short at Star Wars Celebration, describing it as a “fun, action-packed piece” centering around a Han Solo-inspired female rogue as she traverses alien planets inspired by various real-life countries. On that same theme, Studio WIT (the first three seasons of Attack on Titan) is making The Bounty Hunters, a buddy comedy story about a bounty hunter and his sidekick getting an offer from a suspicious businessman.
The Song of Four Wings is a new short from Project Studio Q. Directed by Hiroyasu Kobayashi, it’s about a princess and her R2 unit companion. Although not much was said about the story at Star Wars Celebration, Kobayashi promised “lots of mechs,” as the studio specializes in mechanical designs. Most importantly, the short showcases AT-AT walkers emerging from the snow like zombies, and (based on the little footage shown at the end of the panel) the R2 unit disassembles and transforms into an X-Wing-shaped jet pack that its princess protagonist uses. It looks silly, yet incredible; a guaranteed standout from Star Wars: Visions Volume 3.
Legendary Animator Shinya Ohira is Working on a New Star Wars Anime Short About Stormtroopers
Lastly, David Production (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure) is teaming up with legendary animator Shinya Ohira (Akira, the opening of The Boy and the Heron, this spectacular clip from One Piece) for a short simply titled Black. This could be the most impressive short of the season, a visually astonishing piece of animation that focuses on a stormtrooper. Ohira wanted to peel back the curtain on the personal lives and emotions of average stormtroopers, revealing what lies beneath those helmets.
The exclusive footage shown to Star Wars Celebration 2025 attendees was stunning, featuring fluid and rhythmic animation filled with vibrant colors. Much like Shinya Ohira’s other work, it feels unrestrained by physics and often the screen itself, like a free-flowing story. Additionally, it seems Ohira has teamed up with young French animator Vincent Chansard (Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2). We saw shots of a Tie Fighter on what looks like the Death Star trench run shooting down X-Wing fighters, as well as many images of stormtroopers being killed in battle. It is very reminiscent of the magnificent 2009 movie Redline. This is one to watch, folks.
